When Good People Do Nothing

There's not much I can add to the enormous volume of well-deserved derision aimed at former Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain, who destroyed one of America's legendary companies while "earning" one of the highest salaries in the country.

And yet, I have to add one thing: his abuses did not occur in a vacuum. When Thain lobbied for - and won - early executive bonuses ahead of the company's takeover by Bank of America, or when Thain spent over $1 million to redecorate his office - all the while planning to cut thousands of jobs - many people knew what was going on. Subordinates, peers, regulators and even shareholders chose to look the other way.

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Categories: Corporate Culture | Leadership | Economics | Ethics

3 comments - Posted by Paul Orfalea at 9:23 AM

Don't Be Afraid of the Big, Bad Bear

by Lance Helfert

A film producer told us that economic downturns are typically good for the film industry and the alcoholic beverage industry.  That is historically correct, but in recent years the film studios have been getting financing from hedge funds and other investment groups, so while people may indeed want to go to the movies to take their minds off the nation's economic woes, the studios may have trouble financing their wares. But his point still resonates: the economy reflects the daily needs and desires of the people within it.

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Categories: Finance | Economics | Investing | Optimism

0 comments - Posted by Dean Zatkowsky at 9:27 AM

Dress Codes

Last week I wore a suit and hat for the first time in years. It felt more like a costume than business attire, and several people in my small town, accustomed to seeing me in jeans and flannel shirts, asked if I was on my way to some sort of theater rehearsal. But my exchanges in restaurants and shops reminded me that the balance of power in daily encounters shifts toward one who dresses well. I call it the tailor’s cocktail: one part confidence in one's appearance, two parts deference from people seeking leadership from someone who looks like he or she has it together. Most of you know how this plays out in the workplace.

We experimented with different types of dress codes in different Kinko’s organizations, and I have worked in many other companies with various approaches to coworker appearance. For the record, I think an easy smile, bright eyes and helpful attitude can trump any form of apparel, but I understand a retail organizations’ desire to use dress codes as part of their branding. I also understand the potential frustration when depending on a diverse workforce to make choices in the best interests of customers and the company.

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Categories: Corporate Culture | Customer Service | Management Skills

1 comments - Posted by Dean Zatkowsky at 11:14 AM

Where Shall Our Children Live?

In my January 15th blog entry, I mentioned Johann Hari's Slate.com review of American Earth: Environmental Writing Since Thoreau. I have not yet read the book, but Hari's reference to sociologist Jane Jacobs' contribution caught my eye:

Human beings are part of nature, not some alien species-so "the cities of human beings are as natural ... as are the colonies of prairie dogs or the beds of oysters." Far from being free and somehow mystically complete, "in real life, peasants are the least free of men-bound by tradition, ridden by caste, fettered by superstitions, riddled by suspicion and foreboding of whatever is strange."

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Categories: Leadership | Environment | Optimism

1 comments - Posted by Paul Orfalea at 11:15 AM

It's All Connected

By Lance Helfert

Many people seem bewildered that the government's interventions have not instantly solved the financial crisis and driven the stock market back to pre-crisis levels. This merely emphasizes that the economy is complex, the stock market is imperfect and often inefficient, and human beings are absurdly impatient. The same expectation of instant gratification that fueled our credit binge now plagues the markets. We want answers NOW, just as we wanted bigger homes, bigger flat screen TVs, and bigger SUVs, NOW! Digital cameras give us instant photos, TIVO lets us time-shift our favorite programs and skip commercials, and of course, the Internet lets us find information and do our shopping anywhere, anytime. Ironically, our impatience with others for not fixing the economy distracts us from doing our part to fix the economy by staying calm and behaving rationally.

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Categories: Finance | Economics | Investing | Optimism

0 comments - Posted by Dean Zatkowsky at 1:49 PM

No-Flation in a Service Economy

Service providers face a special challenge in a shrinking economy, because competitive advantage and elasticity of demand are both impacted by the availability of substitutes.

And for service providers, the most powerful substitute of all is the option to not use a service at all. There are many hairdressers, handymen, and contractors in my small town, but people can color their own hair, replace their own light fixtures, paint their own rooms, and mow their own lawns. Our parents and grandparents did these things all the time.

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Categories: Customer Service | Economics | Competitive Advantage

0 comments - Posted by Dean Zatkowsky at 11:23 AM

A Businesslike Approach to Environmentalism

Presuming he does not become too distracted bailing out incompetent companies, our new president seems poised to engage the nation in work we should have undertaken long ago: responsible stewardship of our environment.

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Categories: Leadership | Economics | Environment | Optimism

0 comments - Posted by Paul Orfalea at 9:45 AM